I found some interesting sources (both in Japanese) on pay and television appearances in the Japanese entertainment industry and wrote up some observations. Downtown and other people who have appeared on Gaki No Tsukai come up often in these lists and examples of the earning power of entertainers on TV. If you've ever wondered about some of how the Japanese entertainment industry works, it might be an interesting read.

Hey conjyak, this is interesting. Thanks for it. Coincidentally, I had been wondering where Yoshimoto stands as a company since I've started to notice some comedian duos are employed by other agencies. I was a fool to think Maseki was anywhere near Yoshimoto in rankings.

I am very surprised that Yoshimoto and Johnny's Entertainment differ by one rank. That's incredible. Yoshimoto has a male and female demographic of consumers I assume, whereas JE has mostly females. That power is scary!

Johnny's and Yoshimoto operate in different industries, where Johnny's is in music with some TV and Yoshimoto entertainers do theater/stage type shows and TV, so it's hard to compare the two. But yeah, Yoshimoto is the largest force in comedy by far and Johnny's pretty much owns the male idol industry.